then he might want to do actual research rather than waiting for more opinions to arrive

Well..... Wikipedia says the game is 2D action-adventure game. and on gamespot's and ebgames's websites, Most if not all castlevania games, are listed in either action or fighting category. not to mention that if you play as Belmont, All the RPG elements is gone. before mark told me. the term "castlevania" and the term "role playing games" never connected.

so in one ear, Mark is telling me it's a RPG games, while steve screams in the other ear telling me otherwise.

So to prevent further arguments. I'm doing a little research. (gathering data from the masses is a part of research).

and Parn, if you don't like the post, you can just ignore it. you really don't NEED to troll it. nice to know you are making new member feel at home.

then he might want to do actual research rather than waiting for more opinions to arrive

Well..... Wikipedia says the game is 2D action-adventure game. and on gamespot's and ebgames's websites, Most if not all castlevania games, are listed in either action or fighting category. not to mention that if you play as Belmont, All the RPG elements is gone. before mark told me. the term "castlevania" and the term "role playing games" never connected.

so in one ear, Mark is telling me it's a RPG games, while steve screams in the other ear telling me otherwise.

So to prevent further arguments. I'm doing a little research. (gathering data from the masses is a part of research).

and Parn, if you don't like the post, you can just ignore it. you really don't NEED to troll it. nice to know you are making new member feel at home.

I'm going to check out Crystalis now.

thanks for the info.

Wikipedia does say it's an Action RPG under the stats sidebar. Also, both this site and RPGamer list it as an action-RPG. Most gamers, if not all accept it as one, and every review I've ever read on it either calls it that directly, or comments heavily on its status as an action-RPG.

But dude, regardless of all sources, it IS an RPG. It has a statistics system, equipment, a progressing storyline, cutscenes, experience points, levels, and everything that makes an RPG an RPG. The only slight difference is that its battle system is real time and side-scrolling, which plenty of RPGs have anyway.

Double Dungeon has only the barest of stories, but more importantly this can be flipped: Just how many games DON'T have any story whatsoever? Unless it's in a genre that typically doesn't even try or doesn't need to like sports and puzzle titles it'll be there, you may as well say a game's an RPG because you control a character.

Symphony of the Night can easily get away with being categorised as both an RPG and an Adventure game. It plays very much like the Metroid games (which explains the common comparison with Super Metroid) which I would call Adventure titles. Also, there's experience, stats, and equipment. Therefore, I can easily call it an RPG Adventure, along with all the other Castlevania games that play like this one.

Double Dungeon has only the barest of stories, but more importantly this can be flipped: Just how many games DON'T have any story whatsoever? Unless it's in a genre that typically doesn't even try or doesn't need to like sports and puzzle titles it'll be there, you may as well say a game's an RPG because you control a character.

Nope. God of War is an action-adventure game. It does HAVE RPG elements such as the skill tree, but it definitely doesn't feel like an RPG, nor does it incorporate enough elements from RPGs to qualify as one.

Double Dungeon has only the barest of stories, but more importantly this can be flipped: Just how many games DON'T have any story whatsoever? Unless it's in a genre that typically doesn't even try or doesn't need to like sports and puzzle titles it'll be there, you may as well say a game's an RPG because you control a character.

You very well know that's not the damned point of what I said. :P

No, I want to call out and show just how much of a misguided notion it is to use something as common as story as a reason something can be branded an RPG, ESPECIALLY in a series like Castlevania where story is one of the last reasons to play them. The rest I don't care to argue about because it's more or less valid reasoning.